Hidden Within
by karee-chan
Summary: After the war, Toshiro Hitsugaya disappeared. No one knew where he went, or if he was still alive. 6 years later, they found him in the Human World, living a normal life. They weren't the only ones to find him, though. Something's after him... but what?


A/N: NEW STORY! This chapter doesn't realy involve Toshiro, but it'll get better. This is just a short prologue to sort of explain the story.. There will be MUCH more of him in the next chapter.

* * *

**Hidden Within**

"_Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves" - Henry David Thoreau._

Prologue  
~ Findings

Rukia felt a drop of sweat fall down her cheek. She looked up to the sky to make sure no other hollows were there. The sky was a different matter. Unbeknown to the humans, there was literally a tear in the sky, known to Soul Reapers as a Garganta. She brought her already release Zanpakuto up near her face in a battle stance.

"Tsugi no mai, Hakuren!"

A wave of pure-white ice danced towards the Garganta and Rukia successfully closed it, preventing any further Hollows from sprawling out. She whipped her sword down and back into it's released state before moving on. She had once again been sent to the human world, although this time not Karakura. She had been sent to a little town called Saturashii.

As she flashed stepped along buildings, she was lost in thought. _"This looks a lot like Karakura. I really wish to visit there, but I've got a job to do."_

Before long, she found herself reminiscing about all the memories she has of that little town: her first meeting with Ichigo, her friends, all the chaos with the Arrancar Invasion and all the trouble everyone went through to protect it against Aizen.

There was many mysteries shadowing the truth. Many still wonder to this day why Aizen wanted the key in the first place, others had a reasonable guess that he just wanted power.

No one would ever forget the whole ordeal, nor would they forget the unfortunate loses they have gained. Many suffered terrible, irreversible injuries, such as Yamamoto. He sacrificed his own arm, and no amount of Kido was able to heal it back. He's now stuck forever with one arm. Uryu was another one. He too had his arm torn off, and since then has a scar in the shape on a claw on his arm due to Ulquiorra grabbing him.

Others, though, suffered a more terrible fate at the hands of Aizen: death. Despite the fact Rukia hated his guts, she was not happy of the news that Gin Ichimaru had died. She knew immediately that her friend and fellow Soul Reaper, Rangiku Matsumoto, would be able to cope with this, all she needed was a bit of comfort.

That was until she found out of another death...

Soul Reapers of the Fourth came to tend to the injured, but upon finding the fallen captains, a certain white-haired captain was missing.

Toshiro Hitsugaya.

Everyone who was able to move went on search for him, high and low throughout the fake Karakura Town. Many days passed, the search extended to that of Rukongai and the Human World, but Toshiro was no where to be found.

He had disappeared.

The Soul Society had to face the harsh truth that the child prodigy was more than likely dead. Although, there are few who refuse to believe that. His grandmother had said she knows in her heart her grandson is _not _dead. Momo had also refused to believe it at first, but has since then come to the reality he's not coming back.

Upon hearing the news of his death from her captain, Ukitake, Rukia went to visit Rangiku. With both her best friend and her captain dead, no one could begin to imagine the pain she was going through.

Rukia shock her head. Why was she thinking of such depressing subjects? She looked towards the Clock Tower to see the sun rise on a new day in Saturashii.

She just smiled. Things may not be the same as before, but nothing ever stays the same.

* * *

She found herself checking her Soul Pager more often. Now morning, Rukia walked through a small park in Saturashii. As she walked along she stared intently at the screen. For a while now, she had felt a slight disturbance in the energy around this town. It was very small, not even worthy of being called "Spirit Energy", but she knew in her gut she shouldn't ignore it.

There was a path stretching across the whole city of Saturashii. It mapped from the South-West to the North-East, and throughout the path were Sakura (Cherry Blossom) Trees. She found herself strolling down that path for a while. It was a very calming atmosphere: The blossoms falling, the sun flowing through the branches of the trees.

She just could not shake off that disturbance. Her mind told her it was nothing, but her heart told her to stick by her gut feeling and continue to monitor it. She followed her heart and continued to monitor it for several minutes.

Within the next hour or so, she felt whatever it was gradually getting closer and closer. She became more cautious. The following minutes she felt it get even closer, so much so she felt although it was approaching her from behind. She turned around, only to observe nothing but humans.

Then she saw it.

There was one human in particular. No, he wasn't a human at all. She was almost certain of it...

It was Toshiro Hitsugaya.

* * *

Renji had once again found himself stuck in his office. He let out a long and heavy sigh, as he worked on what felt like the one-millionth sheet of paperwork.

"_It seems like all we ever do since the war ended was paperwork." _He complained, _"I'll just take a small break. I'll go visit Ikkaku, I want to get some training done."_

He picked up Zabimaru and prepared to escape. Just as he raised his hand to open the door something opened it for it. That same something had ran directly into him. Rukia fell back a few steps and clutched her now throbbing nose.

"How hard is your chest, Renji?" She shouted at her red-haired friend.

Renji brought a hand up and scratched his forehead lightly, "You shouldn't run into people's offices like that."

The smaller Reaper glared in response. "You shouldn't be standing right outside the door!"

"What are you doing here anyway, Rukes?" Renji questioned her, "Weren't you on a mission to the human world again?"

Rukia's face suddenly became serious and the atmosphere completely changed. She looked both ways to see if anyone was out in the hall before entering the office and closing the door. "Renji... I saw him."

Confusion filled the lieutenant. "Saw who?"

"You are not going to believe me, but... I know it. I definitely saw Captain Hitsugaya."

"What? He died, Rukia!"

"How do you know? We never found his body! He didn't die, he just disappeared! And now-"

"Rukia... You never know, it might have been someone that just looked like him. There is more than one short, white-haired boy in the universe."

"But, his spiritual pressure! It was very faint. It was very hard to read, but when I did eventually feel it, it felt cold."

"Well, that's another story all together. But why come to me about all this?"

"I trust you. I wanted you to come back to Saturashii to just double check."

"... Fine."

The two headed out the Sixth Division and towards the human world. The arrived back in the spot were Rukia had once stood, staring at what looked exactly like Captain Hitsugaya. Rukia explained how they were heading North-East, and the two ran, determined to find Toshiro.

* * *

"Rukia, we should just give up." Renji said, his feet now sore from all the running.

The orange skies indicated how late it was. Letting out a loud yawn, Renji looked towards the clock tower to find the exact time being 8:47.

Rukia turn around to come face-to-face with Renji. "But... It was definitely him."

Rukia just looked down to the ground. Maybe it was just someone that looked like him. She suggested to Renji that he should go home and get rest, as she still had a job to protect this town. She also informed him that she would no longer worry about this, although Renji knew it was a lie.

He decided not to argue and just head off. Just as he was turning around, a small girl with locks of brunette hair had crashed into him. He automatically said sorry, despite the fact the little girl could not hear her. She just looked confused. What knocked her down? Nothing was there.

Another brunette, this time a grown woman, approached her. Renji thought to himself she must be the girl's mother. He glanced at Rukia, who was just watching the scene unfold from only a few steps away. The older brunette picked up the little girl.

"Are you ok, Lilo?" She stroked the little girl's cheek gently.

The smaller brunette, Lilo, just smiled in response. "I'm fine!" She chirped.

She wriggled herself free from her mother's grasp and continued running forward, avoiding Renji this time (although nearly bumping into Rukia, but Rukia dodged). The mother just smiled and walked a few paces forward, her back now to Renji and Rukia.

A voice came from behind the three. One that was familiar to all three.

"Do you want me to go after her?" The voice asked.

Renji and Rukia watched in awe as the white-haired, teenage boy approached the woman. Rukia poked Renji is the arm.

"Now do you believe me?" She nearly shouted.

"Its..." Renji was speechless. It couldn't have been. He was dead! "It really _is _Captain Hitsugaya!"

The two continued to watch as Toshiro and the woman talked. Rukia noted to herself the differences between the old Toshiro and the one they were watching now. His hair was longer, and he now had a slight fringe hovering over the left side of his forehead.* He also was taller. His height had not grown drastically, but he was now at a height where Rukia had to look up very slightly to see him. He no longer looked like the same, he now looked like that of a 16 year-old teenage boy. He had greatly matured.

His voice was the same though. He still had the exact same tone of voice as he did 6 years ago.

Renji and Rukia just looked to each other and nodded. They had to go tell the Head Captain of this, and so Renji opened up the gate to Soul Society and both jumped through.

Upon reaching the First Division Barracks, they noticed the Spiritual Pressure of all captains and lieutenants. Renji had forgotten yet another meeting, although it was for a good cause. They quite rudely stormed through and stopped outside the meeting room. The two guards let them through, knowing fine well that Renji was a lieutenant.

All heads turned towards them. Byakuya glared at Renji. He knew he was in trouble. Rukia immediately began to explain.

"Sorry for the intrusion, sir, but we have found something in the human world that... well..." Rukia began to stutter, as she realised if she had just said 'Oh look, we found Captain Hitsugaya' out loud no one would believe. "It's better if you see for yourselves."

Rukia began an incantation to a quite high-level Kido spell. This was one which aloud others to see through the eyes of someone else a moment in time from their past. The all closed their eyes as the memory of Rukia seeing Toshiro with the brunette flashed through their minds.

"It can't be!" Ukitake exclaimed once the flashback had finished.

Kyoraku tilted his hat down and smirked "Looks like he survived, eh."

"How do you know it is not just someone that looks like him?" Isane questioned.

"There cannot be." Nemu explained. "When a Soul or Soul Reaper from the Soul Society dies and begins a new life in the Human World, they do not have the same appearance as they did before. They are reborn into an entirely knew life form and their spiritual pressure does not stay the same either."

Kenpachi just let out a devilish grin. "So the little twerp's alive? Good. Never got a chance to fight him."

Rukia looked around. Everyone had looks of confusion and/or happiness. All but one. Rangiku just looked down to the ground, a look of sadness spread upon her face.

"_Why is she sad?" _Rukia's thought's said, _"Her Captain is alive! She-"_

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud bang. Yamamoto had struck his cane down to calm the high-ranking Soul Reapers.

"Quiet!" He shouted. "This is a matter of great importance. Jushiro, Shunsui, I am putting you two in charge of an investigation into this. From what we can gather, Hitsugaya is unable to see Soul Reapers and has only a glimmer of Spiritual Pressure."

After that, Yamamoto refused to talk about it further, leaving the situation in the hands of Ukitake and Kyoraku.

The meeting was soon dismissed, only one though on nearly everyone's mind.

They had found Toshiro Hitsugaya.

*[NOTE: Go to chapter -16 of Bleach. That's how his _hair_ looks.]


End file.
